Movie notes: Tyler Perry gets the last laugh

Maybe after this, studios will relent and start letting critics see movies based on Tyler Perry’s stage plays in time to write opening-day reviews.

Turns out that E-N film critic Larry Ratliff liked “Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married,” which opened last Friday without being shown to critics. An excerpt from his 3-jalapeno review (find it here):

“The former touring theatrical writer-producer-actor-director still overdoes it with melodrama from time to time, but this is the first time Perry has convinced me he deserves to stick around as a feature filmmaker.

It’s not that I have finally caved in to Perry’s vocal devotees, who have convinced me to join his choir of support despite films that failed to deserve praise. Instead — and to his credit — Perry has come to us. By us I mean critics, and thus filmgoers who don’t appreciate being yanked into praising unworthy work.”

Perry also got three peppers from Larry for “Daddy’s Little Girls,” which came out in February. So maybe the studio will relent next time.

Then again, maybe not. Despite the no-show policy, “Why Did I Get Married” won the weekend box-office with an estimated $21.5 million, almost twice what movie-biz forecasters had predicted.

“My strong hunch is that this is the last time anybody will underestimate Tyler Perry,” Tom Ortenberg, president of the distributor, Lionsgate Films, told the Los Angeles Times.

However, trends show that Perry films have a steep box-office drop the second weekend, mainly because everyone who wants to see his latest film rushes out on opening weekend. Maybe some timely reviews would help his films do more than preach to the choir.